The present invention relates to damped rollers. More particularly, the present invention relates to rollers that have integral dampers formed as part of the roller assembly.
Rollers are used in a wide variety of applications. For example, rollers may be used in conjunction with slides for drawers, sliding racks, desk drawers, cabinets and the like to slide the object, such as the drawer, from another object, such as the cabinet in which the drawer is installed.
Typically, higher quality sliding arrangements include rollers in conjunction with rails on which the sliding object (e.g., the drawer) slides into and out of, for example, the cabinet. In that the rollers provide a smooth, low-resistance movement of, for example, the drawer, it has been found to often be desirable to dampen or slow the movement of the drawer in one direction. This may be particularly desirable when the drawer is heavily loaded and fast movement, in conjunction with a large mass can result in a high inertia of the moving drawer.
Many such drawers also include spring assists for facilitating movement in one direction. Typically, such spring assists are used to help return a drawer to a closed position, merely by starting movement of the drawer in the closed direction. To this end, it may be desirable to dampen the return movement of the drawer so that the spring return does not return the drawer too quickly to the closed position.
Known damper systems use a separate, mounted assembly to provide a damping function. Typically, a damper includes a unit that is mounted to one side of the drawer, at the rail, to slow the return movement of the drawer. While these dampers work well for their function, they require a separate, mounted element, and cannot be readily retrofitted to the drawer. In addition, these units can be large and may require that the cabinet be designed with additional space between the drawer and the cabinet side to accommodate the damper unit.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a roller/damper assembly that readily fits into a drawer rail and slide unit. Desirably, such a roller/damper assembly provides an arrangement by which a drawer or the like is readily rolled, on rails, for movement. Most desirably, such a unit provides smooth, yet damped movement in one direction and further provides smooth, undamped or free-rolling movement in an opposite direction. Yet more desirably, such a roller/damper assembly can be completely integrated with an existing slide system.